In current situtation running a society smoothly depends on how much cash reserves the society has in its bank. Few socitities doesn’t feel that much heat as members are cooperative and paying maintenance bills on time,check .Regular payment from members makes easier to run society as it doesn’t feel cash crunches.

However few socities are expcetion to this as default by members are keep on increasing, which make committee members work more deficult to manage. Recovering the dues from members is complicated task as it also harm the personal relation with the committee members and defaulter members.

Under Section 101 of Maharashtra Societies Act (MCS), society can fight the legal battle to recover due from defaulters.

1) Issue a simple letter to defaulter (there is no specified format for this) which should have the amount dues, period for payment and also a warning mentioned about “Failuer to make payment, society will make application to society registrar under Maharashtra Societies Act section 101 to recover the outstanding dues”.

2) After the completion of given period on notice to defaulter, committee should pass a resolution to take action against the defaulter.

3) Under the section 101, Society chairman and secretary can take action against the defaulter and has rights to sign all the requried documents which they need to submit to society registrar who will issue the recovery certificate.

4) After the submission of all the papers from society to registrar. Registrar may ask for hearing with defaulter member and verify the records. After verifying and hearing if registrar find the appeal truthful he will issue recovery certificate to society.

5) Once the recovery certificate received by recovery officer, he will prepare the demand notice which will send to Sale Officer and same notice will be attached to property of defaulter member of society.

6) Sale officer will visit the flat of defaulter to prepare and submit the list of inventory of all his moveable property. If defaulter member is still not paying out standing dues even after receiving Demand notice, Sale officer can seize the moveable property and can hand them over to Secretary or Chairman of society for custody.

7) After the seizing auction date is fixed for auction of seized movable property. If the amount received from auction is less as compared to dues then Sale officer has right to auction the flat of defaulter member.

How To Calculate Maintenance Charges For Your Housing Society?

You bought an apartment and you moved in with your family and household items. But have you given a thought about maintenance? Though you own the apartment, you are a resident of the apartment complex, which means you are required to pay monthly charges for the maintenance of the common areas in addition to plumbing and electrical repairs inside your apartment. The expenses incurred in the common area are shared by all the residents and is collected by the residents’ association.

To arrive at the monthly maintenance fee https://acfa-cashflow.com/merchant-cash-advance/for-business/ for the apartment, you have to take into account the monthly expenses and an additional amount for maintenance and repairs. Though every residents’ society decides on the method to arrive at a fair and reasonable monthly maintenance fee, there are some general guidelines that one can follow.

You can find some of the popular methods to calculate the maintenance fee for your apartment along with their advantages and disadvantages below:

Equal Fee for All

This is perhaps the simplest of all models where a fixed amount is charged on all apartments. However, it is also one of the most unfair. It works very well in apartment complexes with same sized flats. In most modern complexes, that is not the case and the small apartment owners end up paying an unfair amount of maintenance.

2. Pay According to Area

The most commonly used and popular method to calculate the apartment maintenance fee is paying according to the area. A rate is fixed for one square feet and then multiplied by the total square feet area of your flat in this method. This means that if you have a larger home, you will end up paying more. The popularity of this method comes from the fact that it is easier to calculate. However, since the common facilities such as lift, garden, club, security services, swimming pool etc. are shared by all members, it is slightly unfair for the large apartment holders to pay more.

3. Partially Equal Fee

In this method, a particular amount of money is charged on the area up to a predetermined square feet value. Beyond that, any increment in area is charged according to a unit decided by the apartment association.

4. Hybrid Charges

In order to be fair on the large apartment owners, a hybrid method is implemented by some residents’ societies. The method involves splitting the charges into two with the first part including all the common expenses incurred on lifts, security staff salary, stationary, property taxes, conveyance, audit fees, meeting charges, common electricity etc. The second part includes the area based charges that are specific to the apartments such as water charge and electricity usage.

There is also a non-refundable sinking fund which is charged by the society for major repairs. Every member is supposed to contribute to the sinking fund, which grows over the years. It is conventional to collect at least 0.25% of the construction cost of the apartment excluding the cost of land as sinking fund charges. This also depends on the size of the apartment and the amount stays with the society until repairs are undertaken.

Though it aims to be fair on all parties, there is still a difference in opinion on which items should be charged as per apartment size. For financial advice online check out OakParkFinancial.com

Conclusion

As you have now understood, there is no perfect way to calculate the maintenance fee that an apartment owner should pay the residents’ association. Every model has its own advantages and disadvantages and depending on the apartment complex, the residents’ society should decide which model works best for them and implement it accordingly. Further, a half-yearly meeting should be held to discuss the feasibility of the plan and also to cut down any charges that are imposed unnecessarily.

(ii) Bye-laws’ means by-laws consistent with Act and registered under this Act for the time being in force and includes registered amendments of such bye-laws.

(iii) ‘Chief Promoter’ means the person who is elected by the Promoters, in their first meeting, or in their subsequent meetings in case the post of the Chief Promoter lies vacant, till the first general meeting.

(iv) “Committee” means the Committee of management or board of directors or the governing body or other directing body of a cooperative Housing society, by whatever name called, to which the management of the affairs of a society is entrusted and vested under section 73 of the Act

(v) ‘—– Days’ Clear Notice means the number of calendar days intervening between the day of posting the notice and the day of the meeting.

(vi) Flat’ means a separate and self contained set of premises used or intended to be used for residence, or office, or show-room, or shop, or godown and includes a garage, or dispensary, or consulting room, or clinic, or flour mill, or coaching classes, or palnaghar, beauty parlour, the premises forming part of a building and includes an apartment.

(Vii) ‘Housing Federation’ means the federation of cooperative housing societies, registered and notified under the Act.

How To Register Complaint Against Housing Society or RWA?

Modern-day living is driven by community support and hence, in a housing society, Resident Welfare Associations or RWAs have become inevitable. It seeks to simplify housing complex level issues. Here’s why RWAs today are almost your saving grace:

Planning, improving and ensuring better living standards

Empowering residents to identify areas of conflict while coming up with solutions

Effective fund utilisation

Addressing common issues in a practical manner

Ease of communication

But what can you do if you are not happy with the way your RWA is functioning?

RWAs can be difficult to deal with if not competent. It turns out to be more of a harassment than help. An RWA or the Apartment Owners Association can be sued by any of the members or group of members. If you see a diversion or conflict of interest with respect to the byelaws of this association, a meeting should be held discussing issues in this regard.

Most RWAs prepare for such incidents and therefore, the byelaws may contain information about how and to whom should issues be directed to in the first place. All appeals against the decision of the Managing Committee is usually escalated to the General Body of the Association. The appeal is given to the Secretary in writing and the same is placed before the General Body. The decision of the General Body shall be final and will be communicated to the member concerned in writing.

If problems persist, residents can approach the Registrar of Societies which has the right to cancel the registration of the association. As a last resort, residents can move the court of law as well. These day various residents have been resorting to online forums to bring issues of concern to the fore.

Similarly, even when the Association is dissolved due to any reason, the course of action thereon is usually pre-decided especially with regard to liabilities, left-over properties/ assets etc.

Provisions under Societies Registration Act 1860 lays down the following:

“Every society registered under this Act may sue or be sued in the name of President, Chairman, or Principal Secretary, or trustees, as shall be determined by the rules and regulations of the society and, in default of such determination, in the name of such person as shall be appointed by the governing body for the occasion.” For financial advice online check out GAD-Capital

What makes RWAs mandatory

RWAs are non-political and non-sectarian which makes it the best channel to take up issues that are affecting the residents of the apartment complex and giving it a voice whenever and wherever needed. All RWAs need to be registered and come under a specific jurisdiction which makes it liable to punishment/penalty in case of defaults or lawlessness.

In short, RWAs usually take up addressing each and every aspect of your community life- promote friendly relations amongst residents, ensure availability of civic amenities like water, sanitation, maintenance of roads, parks, street lighting, take up issues related to enforcement of prohibition of causes like drug abuse, procurement of funds for donations or subscriptions, welfare activities such as cooperative medical stores, medical/educational camps, employ help such as carpenters, plumbers, electricians and fix remuneration, promote non-political legal issues of residents and most of all ensure safety and security of residents besides many social, philanthropic activities. RWA’s can also collaborate with urban local bodies (ULB) to implement the priority projects through ULBs’ funds or through the Councilor /MLA/MP funds.